Don Miller at Story

Don Miller gave a talk about the power of story. It was similar to a great talk I heard him give last year…but it didn't bother me to hear it again. Some quotes that really connected with me…

• Story = "A character that wants something and overturns conflict to get it."
• What is meaningful in a story is meaningful…only because it is meaningful in life.
• We have a relationship with Scripture that is really strange. We sit down and say, "What's in this for me?" What if it's just a story about God? What if He just wants us to get to know Him?
• You can have a greatly flawed character, and that's okay, as long as the character sacrifices himself or herself for something.
• Success doesn't tell a very good story. It takes a character with flaws who does good.
• The story that we are telling ourselves is almost always different than the story we are telling the people around us.
• Conflict offers us the opportunity to appreciate joy.
• Commercialism robs us of the conflict, which in turn robs us of being involved in great stories.
• In real life, we wish for conflict to go away. But it never will.
• We are taught that conflict goes away through the gift of Jesus. Jesus was not the climax. Conflict still exists.

Dave Gibbons at Story

Dave Gibbons is the pastor of Newsong Church in southern California. Here are some of my takeaways from his talk at Story Chicago…

• Everyone has a desire to connect.
• Every culture has to figure out, "How do we recommunicate the gospel?"
• We've defined success for churches by size and strength (the size of our church budgets).
• Most churches, about 80% of budget is in staff and buildings. I propose we turn that around. What if 80% went to the city and only 20% to operations?
• When there is personal revelation of your weakness–it more fully releases the power of the Spirit.
• Do you think everyone in your church should serve in your church? Why? Why not prepare them to serve outside your church?
• Sometimes God allows a time of dryness because He is producing something beautiful inside of us.

Story Launches with Ed Young

The Story Conference started with worship led by Candi Pearson-Shelton, Jon Shelton , and Trace Rorie. Then Scott Hodge gave a compelling (if not life changing) intro for Ed Young. Some quotables from Ed…

• The story of the Bible is all about a divine rescue.
• As a follower of Christ, I need to be in the search and rescue business.
• Everybody wants to reach people until you start reaching people.
• People will leave your church. Don't chase the leavers.
• Small groups are fine and dandy, but if I had to choose, I'd rather have volunteering than small groups.
• The question is not: "How many people are showing up?" The better question is: "Who are you reaching?"
• In church, chaos is your friend.
• We've always had a lean staff because we want to be forced to leverage volunteers.
• Change. Conflict. Growth. That's the sequence. Many people won't change. Or they do change and then stop at the conflict, and they never experience the growth.

Never Stop Learning

Last night I was talking to Mark Beeson and we were sharing stories about the weekend. He had just returned from spending some time with Amber, his oldest daughter, and had the opportunity to visit her church. Maybe you read his post about it.

He was telling me about his visit to Ada Bible Church and the great messaged delivered by Jeff Manion.

Something he said stood out to me: "I learned several things Sunday, and a couple of them are really going to help me in my preaching."

I think anyone who knows Mark casually would file this under the category of yougottabekiddingme! He is a world-class communicator, has been preaching for nearly four decades, and has continually refined his skill with the detail of an artist.

And yet his comment wasn't surprising to me. Why? Because Mark is a life-long learner. He may be in his mid-50's when many leaders would coast on everything they learned in their 20's and 30's and 40's. But not Mark. He continues to be a challenge to me because he has purposed to never stop learning. And that, my friends, makes a leader attractive at any age.

(Picture by Dustin Maust, creatively ripped off without permission from MarkBeeson.com)

Getting People in Small Groups is Not the Goal

I'm sitting in a conference listening to a real-life case study. A pastor from Texas presented his problem: "How do we get more people in small groups?" He went on to explain that only about 500 of their 2200 attendees are involved in small groups.

The conference participants then helped this pastor find a solution for getting more people in small groups.

But to me, it seems like the wrong question. Why is the goal to get more people in small groups? I'm sure his goal is bigger than just getting people in close proximity to each other. There must be something that happens in small groups that he really wants people involved in. Perhaps it is Bible study, or deeper relationships, or perhaps he knows that spiritual growth happens better in the context of those relationships.

Asking "why aren't more people in small groups" seems like a newer version of the question, "Why can't we get more people to attend Sunday school?" It doesn't really get to the real desire.

Maybe it would be better to ask, "How do we get more people to study the Bible?" or "How do we get people to take spiritual steps in deeper relationship with others?"

Maybe the answer isn't Sunday School…or small groups. Maybe it's something we haven't even thought of. Maybe it is 50 different answers for a church of 2200 people.

It is so easy to get stuck on a method. That which is innovative today can become an idolatrous method tomorrow.

More Choice Reduces Participation

I'm spending the day listening to Chip Heath (author of Switch and Made to Stick) talk about change. Some notable quotes from the first session…

• If change is hard, why do so many people sign up for marriage? And why, a few years later, do so many of those couples sign up for parenting?
• There is a schizophrenia about change that is built into each one of us. Part of us wants the brownie, the other part wants to look better in a swimsuit.
• Every person who has ever initiated great change started with an emotional reaction to something and said, "That's wrong!"
• No one ever feels like they have enough resources or the right position to implement change.
• We spend more time thinking about (and talking about) things that went wrong than things going well.
• Leslie Fielder: "Lots of novelists have achieved their fame by focusing on marital problems, but there's never been a successful novel about a happy marriage."
• When you want to change something, find an easy critical move. One organization wanted a healthier community. Rather than go after everything–they focused on one thing: "Drink 1% milk." And it worked.
• A 10% increase in options in a 401k plan decreases participation by 2%. More choice reduces participation.
• What looks like resistance to change in an employee is often cluelessness.

Who Says Church Announcements Have to Be Boring?

From our friends at North Point Church, Springfield, Missouri.

What do you think…creative? Over the top? How would this go over at your church?

Real Prayers from Real Kids

Do you ever wonder what is in the mind of a child? A few weeks ago we asked a bunch of kids to write out their prayers to God. Here is what they came up with…

Kids Prayers from Granger Community on Vimeo.

Halloween Bible and Book Burning

I'm not sure whether to be…

• Shocked that churches like this still exist.
• Disappointed that my books aren't on the list to be burned.
• Ashamed to be included in the same "Christian" category as these folks.

See what you think…

(HT to Barry Dunlap for finding this after seeing it run on ABC News earlier today)

Hey Church: We Have a Disease